Wednesday, September 30, 2015

By DEAN TUDOR, Gothic Epicures Writing deantudor@deantudor.com. Creator of Canada's award-winning wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.com. My Internet compendium "Wines, Beers and Spirits of the Net", a guide to thousands of news items and RSS feeds, plus references to wines, beers and spirits, has been at www.deantudor.com since 1994. My LCBO tastings are based on MVC (Modal Varietal Character); ratings are QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio). Prices are LCBO retail. Only my top rated wines are here.

NOTE: The LCBO does NOT put out all of the wines of the release for wine writers or product consultants. Corked wines are not normally available for a re-tasting. It is getting more difficult to endorse wines under $20 for the simple reason that the LCBO does not release many of them into the Vintages program, ones that can be deemed to be worthy of your consideration. So I will now just ADD some "under $25" suggestions, along with point values.

====?>>> ** BEST WINE VALUE OF THE RELEASE *UNDER* $20

Angels Gate Mountainview Chardonnay 2010 VQA Beamsville Niagara, +116384, $19.95: great value for a chardonnay while under $20 in price, 13.5% ABV, barrel fermentation, eight months in new and used French oak. Nicely aged to richness, "subtle" oak is now more strongly nuanced but the fruit remains vivid. Gold Medal winner. QPR: 91.

TOP VALUE WHITE WINES under $25:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1.Domaine Seguinot-Bordet Chablis 2014, +289371, $22.95. QPR: 89.

2.Doudeau-Leger Sancerre 2014, +426866, $21.95. QPR: 90.

3.Santa Alicia Gran Reserva de Los Andres Chardonnay 2013 Maipo, +406991, $18.95: delightfully fresh, but still needs time to open up. Very well-presented butterscotch with US oak component (coconut and toast). QPR: 89.

8.Rivera Cappellaccio Riserva Aglianico 2008 Castel de Monte Puglia, +305276, $17.95: a firm wine with good depth, lots of smoke and development, now 7 years old – enough to tame down the aglianico. Well-priced for a wine that has been in storage by somebody else. 13.5% ABV. QPR: 89.

9.Tommasi Graticcio Appassionato 2013 "Product of Italy", +338939, $15.95: air-dried concentrated grape flavours in the Amarone style are all the rage, and at this price level, you can get a decent copy, with value for its density. Who knows where the grapes are from, but they have been air-dried and Tommasi is a major company in the graticcio business. Some oak treatment, 13% ABV. If you want to know what all the excitement is about, you cannot go wrong with this tasting sample at $15.95. QPR: 89.

Restaurants should consider offering these FINE VALUE wines at a $10 markup over retail; the wines are READY to enjoy right NOW. Consumers should buy these wines to bring to restaurants with corkage programs.

Monday, September 28, 2015

The Event: A tasting of a new Victoria and Don Ziraldo project in Portugal with Senhora do Convento Douro wines.

The Venue: Novotel Esplanade.

The Target Audience: wine writers, restaurateurs, and opinion-makers.

The Availability/Catalogue: the Ruby and Tawny ports are at the LCBO; the rest

The Quote/Background: Don spoke on the tables wines and some of the ports, Victoria spoke on the Ruby and the Tawny Ports, and Don spoke on his Ziraldo icewine. Tom Noitsis from Eurovintage spoke about his agency's involvement in both the Portuguese wines and in the Ziraldo icewine. Wines will be available through the LCBO eventually; estimated retail prices are attached (see below).

The Event: a tasting of Antique Europe wines (Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova, Georgia, Romania) plus some rare Greek wines for sale at the LCBO's "200 Danforth" store, the first roll-out of the specialty wine markets.

The Venue: Cava Restaurant

The Target Audience: members of the Wine Writers' Circle of Canada

The Availability/Catalogue: most of the Eastern European wines are now (or will be) at the LCBO, the balance are via private orders and consignment.

The Quote/Background: We started the Fall 2015 season off with a bang, with a huge turnout of members for this great tasting. Zoltan Szabo made all the arrangements for the restaurant and for the wine collection.

The Wines: I did not taste all the wines, many were roaming around the room as there were only one or two bottles of each wine. However, I did have some names and prices of

some of these wines, and they are noted below as unrated and untasted.

The Food: It was impossible to taste all the food against each and every wine, so we all made our own best choices. I did try for a comparison of two wines with each (a white or a red or the same colour). The Purcari Chardonnay 1827 seemed to be the most obvious choice since it was done up in a mid-Atlantic style as a crowd pleaser. The Plagios and Ovilos were pretty good even with the substantial food. I could not find the heavier Greek reds, so I stuck with the 2009 Cabernets which went better with food than when tasted on their own.

Food was presented family buffet style, beginning with Langos (Hungarian): leavened potato cake with Edam cheese and garlic chips. Followed by Tolma: cabbage rolls of lamb in a fenugreek tomato sauce, and skewers of Chicken hearts and livers with a walnut pomegranate sauce (Georgian) – which went with every single wine I tried.

Kalmakha: salad of oyster mushroom, bacon, green chilis, basil and cilantro, was very heavy but dynamite in flavour, best with the roses.

Ajapsandali (Georgian): eggplant potato and pepper stew was substantial, with the heavier reds.

Lobio: beans with corn onion and tarragon, and Beef goulash with caraway and paprika went with all forms of red.

Palacinky was for dessert: cheese and peach crepes, along with the unctuous Tokaji 3 puttonyos. This will be the last release of the 3 putts (and any 4 putts) as the Hungarian regulators have decided develop and promote only the 5 puttonyos level, and that is what will be imported to Ontario.

The Downside: it was a bit chaotic in the tasting, and resulted in my missing a few bottles. If we had had more time, a list could have been drawn up and that could have been used as a checklist.

The Upside: great foods from Cava; Chef Doug Penfold tried really hard to prepare a wide variety of substantial food for us.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an "easy" format. Here are some recent "re-editions"...

25.THE GOOD COOK'S BOOK OF OIL AND VINEGAR (Skyhorse Publishing, 1992, 2015, 429 pages, ISBN 978-1-63220-587-2, $18.99 US hard covers) is by Michele Anna Jordan, a Bear Award winner and cookbook author (Good Cook's series and a dozen more). She still writes for a local paper and hosts a radio show in California. It was originally published in 1992 (23 years ago) at 264 pages, with 100 recipes, by Perseus Books. Here, it has been expanded to 429 pages and with 150 recipes (50% more). It is a good guide, one which has withstood the test of time. There is a discussion on oils and vinegars in two chapters, updated with the latest health information. She's got notes on oil tasting and vinegar tasting, as well as stocking the pantry. The cookbook itself begins on page 71, and runs through the gamut of courses, apps to desserts and beverages. The appendices list an updated bibliography, resources, glossary, and templates for tracking tasting note and recommendations. She's got Fall Fruit Gazpacho with watermelon, Garden Minestrone , umpteen salads, and the usual standards of bruschetta, tuna tapenade, feta with olive oil, grilled pizzas, spaghettini with walnut and parsley sauce, and poached eggs with warm shallot vinaigrette. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Some dishes come with beverage recommendations. Quality/price rating: 89.

26.THE APPLE COOKBOOK, 3rd edition (Storey Publishing, 1984, 2001, 2015, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-61212-518-3, $14.95 US soft covers) is by Olwen Woodier who has written six cookbooks. This is an updated collection to some 125 "freshly picked" preps, originally published in 1984 with a second edition in 2001. The range is both sweet and savoury, from breakfast through late night snacks. There is material on pick-your-own farms, cider mills, and nostalgia. It is all accented by 95 updated recipes and 30 brand-new ones. At the end she's got a description of the more prominent 28 varieties, with pictures, and some material on 27 heirloom varieties. Then she has charts showing which varieties are best for eating, salads, sauces, baking whole, pie and freezing. Be prepared for fragrant lamb stew, curried ham and apples, polish sausage with apples and red cabbage, and a variety of pies and salads. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 89.

27.THE VEGETARIAN'S BIBLE (Skyhorse Publishing, 2012, 2015, 351 pages, ISBN 978-1-63220-309-0, $18.99 US paper covers) is by Inga-Britta Sundqvist, a chef-writer in Sweden. The book was originally published in 2012 in Sweden with an English translation that same year. This is the paperback edition of that hardback book. She's got 350 quick and relatively easy preps for a fresh take on food and life. The recipes are good for a range of conditions: raw food, low glycemic, vegan, lacto-ovo, and gluten free. This is home cooking, and she recommends five seasonal buffets for any large crowd when entertaining. She's got a whole range of descriptions about non-meat foods, and finishes with vitamin and mineral guides and a variety of indexes for recipes and foods. It is an all-in-one book. Arrangement is by food category: salads, dips, apps, soups, pasta, through to mains, desserts, breakfasts, breads, and drinks. Most, if not all, are classic dishes, suc has as mango salsa, lemon marinated haricot verts, gomasio, tabbouleh, oat with apple and ginger, and zucchini pasta. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there are also tables of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 89.

28.COOKING UP A STORM; recipes lost and found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans (Chronicle Books, 2008, 20157; distr. Raincoast, 368 pages, ISBN 978-1-4521-4400-9, $30 US hard covers) is edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker. This is the 2015 HARD cover reprint of the original paperback release from 2008. All the preps come out of the Times-Picayune newspaper. It is interesting that the newspaper became a post-hurricane

swapping place for old recipes that were washed away by Katrina. There are about 225 recipes here, along with the stories of how they came to be. They have been collated from the newspaper archives, local readers and chefs, and local restaurants. Both classic and contemporary are repped here, so you'll get a dose of beignets, chicken with okra, red beans and rice, grits, and local drink recipes. It is wide-ranging, and not all recipes are Creole or Cajun – it is more like a community cookbook from New Orleans and the parishes. And it means that there are many non-Creole dishes such as "Mexican lasagna" or "liver with onions" or "beef kababs". Arrangement is by course, from apps to desserts, with, of course, a lagniappe chapter. The book concludes with a guide to local descriptions of food, such as po-boy or gumbo. Recipes use avoirdupois measurements, but there is a table of metric equivalents at the far back. Anecdotes and pictures of a lost New Orleans complete the package. Some interesting recipes include pain perdu, seafood gumbo, fresh corn and shrimp chowder, banana bread, anise cookies, praline cookies, and muffuletta. Quality/Price Rating: 88.

29.BEST SALADS EVER; recipes for sensational salads all year long (Grub Street, 2009, 2015, 174 pages, ISBN 978-1-909808-33-1, $29.95 CAN soft covers) is by Sonja Bock and Tina Scheftelowitz; it was originally published in Copenhagen in 2008. This is the English translation via a London UK publisher, first released in 2009. The arrangement is by category: beetroot salads, cabbage salads, root veggie salads, potato salads, and then noodles, pasta, grains, beans, greens, and then fish, meats, and fruits. These are followed by a chapter on dips and dressings. They conclude with lots of buffet ideas and recipes for entertaining. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 87.

30.THE BEST OF JANE GRIGSON; the enjoyment of food (Grub Street, 1992, 2015, 462 pages, ISBN 978-1-909808-28-7, $39.95 CAN hard covers) is material by the late Jane Grigson as compiled by Roy Fullick. It was originally published in 1992 By Michael Joseph, and this is the 2015 reprint. "This book is intended both as tribute to Jane Grigson's culinary skills and scholarship and as a practical cookery book." It's divided into chapters that reflected her interests: England, France, Charcuteries, Mediterranean, Europeans, Americas, India, and Celebration Treats. There is a bibliography of her writings at the back. Preparations have their ingredients listed mainly in metric measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. A good book to read, a great book for gifting. Quality/price rating: 90.

31.GOOD AND CHEAP (Workman Publishing, 2015, 190 pages, ISBN 978-0-7611-8499-7, $16.95 US soft covers) is by Leanne Brown. It was her master's paper in food studies and food policy from New York University. It became a PDF with 700,000 downloads, morphed into a Kickstarter campaign to self-publish the book (40,000 copies), and that self-published book won the 2015 IACP Judge's Choice Award. As every copy of the Workman edition is sold, there will be a book donation to a family who needs it. The current book's premise is to present recipes to nourish people on only $4 a day. 46 million Americans have to survive on only $4 a day for food: students, grads seeking jobs, young families, retirees. It has been revised from its original publication. She's got a strategy and a flexible approach. Every prep is costed and there are economical cooking methods. The page on leftovers gives suggestions which are mainly for sandwiches or wraps, and soups. Nothing should be wasted. Typical foods include green chile and cheddar quesadillas, teriyaki carrots, breakfast quinoa, ramen-inspired deviled eggs, roast chicken, chana masala tomatoes. The global scope emphasizes some of the poverty areas of the world. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 90.

32.175 ESSENTIAL SLOW COOKER CLASSICS (Robert Rose, 2006, 2015, 320 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0524-3, $27.95 CAN paper covers) is by Judith Finlayson, a longtime food writer who the publisher claims has sold more than 750,000 slow cooker books and close to 1 million cookbooks in all. If you have a slow cooker and don't have any of her other cookbooks, then where were you? This current book includes many preps from her first three books plus sixty new ones that were developed for inclusion here. Slow cookers are a mature industry, and they are one of the safest electric appliances. There's a wide range of meals plus different levels of expertise and different situations, from family home cooking (and kids' use of slow cookers) to entertaining. Useful are sweet potato lasagna, leek risotto, and buttermilk lemon sponge. Most dishes can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated; not everything here is a soup or a stew. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 88.

33.MR.WILKINSON'S WELL-DRESSED SALAD (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2015, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-57912-993-4, $27.95 US hard covers) is by Matt Wilkinson, a market owner and chef-owner of many restaurants in Melbourne. He also authored Mr. Wilkinson's Vegetables, a top seller and IACP Design award winner. This current book was originally published by Hardie Grant in Australia as Mr. Wilkinson's Simply Dressed Salads. I'm not sure why the title was changed, since "simply dressed" and "well-dressed" are at opposite ends of the word spectrum. Simply dressed implies lightness while well-dressed is more formal and heavy. Nevertheless, this book is arranged by the seasons (spring through winter) with a primer on growing your own leaves, creating your own dressings, and a glossary. For autumn we have an old man's slaw, egg with green olive and dukkah salad, and torn fresh figs & grapes with almonds and strawberry balsamic. The book is well-presented and laid out, so it is sure to wine another book design award somewhere. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 88.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

YOGURT CULTURE (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, 352 pages, ISBN 978-0-544-25232-5, $22 US hard covers) is by Cheryl Sternman Rule, author of Ripe and the award-winning culinary blog 5 Second Rule. She's also a free-lance food writer appearing in Cooking Light, Eating Well, Vegetarian Times, and more. You also cannot beat the log rollers of Mollie Katzen, Deborah Madison, Anne Mendelson, and others. Yogurt has been around North America for about a century, but lately, with the advent of Greek-style Yogurt (which is simply drained yogurt and thus sweet and creamy when most of the whey has been eliminated), sales have climbed. Most of the yogurt now sold is Greek-style (sweet and creamy). This is a basic cookbook, subdivided by topics such as Flavor, Dress or spread, Sip, Slurp, Dine, Bake, Chill, and Lick. Within each is material on different kinds of global yogurts from Afghanistan, Mongolia, India, Serbia, Turkey, Israel and more. There is a primer on how to buy yogurts, visit yogurt producers, read labels, and even make your own (and yogurt cheese such as labneh). Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. She concludes with a selective bibliography, a resources lists, some end notes, and three full pages of acknowledgments.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

WORLD WINE WATCH (LCBO VINTAGES TIP SHEET) FOR SEPT 19, 2015^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^By DEAN TUDOR, Gothic Epicures Writing deantudor@deantudor.com. Creator of Canada's award-winning wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.com. My Internet compendium "Wines, Beers and Spirits of the Net", a guide to thousands of news items and RSS feeds, plus references to wines, beers and spirits, has been at www.deantudor.com since 1994. My LCBO tastings are based on MVC (Modal Varietal Character); ratings are QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio). Prices are LCBO retail. Only my top rated wines are here.

NOTE: The LCBO does NOT put out all of the wines of the release for wine writers or product consultants. Corked wines are not normally available for a re-tasting. It is getting more difficult to endorse wines under $20 for the simple reason that the LCBO does not release many of them into the Vintages program, ones that can be deemed to be worthy of your consideration. So I will now just ADD some "under $25" suggestions, along with point values.

VALUE: "RESTAURANT READY" or "BRING YOUR OWN WINE BOTTLE" over $25 RETAIL^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Restaurants should consider offering these FINE VALUE wines at a $10 markup over retail; the wines are READY to enjoy right NOW. Consumers should buy these wines to bring to restaurants with corkage programs.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

3.THE DUMPLING SISTERS COOKBOOK (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2015, 272 pages, ISBN 978-0-297-60906-3, $34.99 CAN hard covers) is by Amy and Julie Zhang aka The Dumpling Sisters. They have been active on YouTube for two years now, with 41,000 subscirbers. Their philosophy is that Chinese cooking an be a breeze, and this family cookbook can prove it. There are oabout 100 preps here, ranging from noodles to banquet to baked goods, emphasizing too the mouthfeel of the foods (there are explanations). Exotic foods can be added from purchased packages, such as wood ear mushrooms, golden needle veggies, salted preserved fish, dried bean curd, and others. It all begins with yum cha (Cantonese drinking tea), with pork and prawn open dumplings, silky congee, pork pot-stickers, pan-fried turnip cake – all the major and well-known dim sum. There's a lot on basics, pantry, ingredient names, and suppliers in the UK. Preparations have their ingredients listed in mainly avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

4.FEED YOUR ATHLETE (DK Publishing, 2015, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-3537-8, $22.95 US paper covers) is by Michael Kirtsos and Joseph Ewing, both Registered Dietitians. Kirtsos also teaches sports nutrition, while Ewing also writes cookbooks for DK. Here is a cookbook to fuel high performance, with 150 easy natural recipes for those on-the-go. At a minimum, the book is extremely useful for all school athletes and would-be marathon runners. The collection includes pre-competition dishes to build a body's resources, snacks and replacements to maintain energy during events, recovery meals, and how to stock a pantry. There are sports drinks, soups, snacks, salads and entrees, plus desserts for each category. Each has nutrition tables. At the end, there are meal plans and body fat calculations. Two indexes: alphabetical and by nutrient content (high carb, high fiber, high protein, low fat, low fiber). Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents.

Audience and level of use: those in training, those who want high performance foods.

5.EVERYDAY VEGETARIAN (St. Martin's Griffin, 2015, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-06616-9, $24.99 US paper covers) is by Jane Hughes, editor of Vegan Life magazine, cookery school teacher, and food writer. It has been endorsed by the American Vegetarian Association. Its subtitle says it all: 365 days of healthy seasonal recipes. There's a recipe for every day, but the book is divided by season, beginning with spring, and further arranged by course (soups and apps, mains and sides, desserts and drinks). Unfortunately, there are no menus, so you'll need to pull together a complete meal yourself. Vegan dishes are indicated by a V. It is a good database, filled with classic dishes. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

Audience and level of use: vegetarians or those looking for veggie alternatives.

6.GRILL IT, BRAISE IT, BROIL IT, and 9 other easy techniques for making healthy meals (Clarkson Potter, 2015, 297 pages, ISBN 978-0-307-88809-9, $19.99 US soft covers) is from the American Heart Association. Previous cookbooks from the AHA have stresses slow cookers, fresh foods, low-salt, and safe cardio preps. This one, with 175 recipes, stresses healthy cooking techniques. Besides the three in the title, these are: slow cooking, microwaving, blending, stir-frying, stewing, steaming, poaching, roasting and baking. Recipes can then be customized, so there are more than 175 here. The arrangement is by technique, with a primer at the beginning for shopping and lifestyles, and a resources checklist at the back for a pantry, cooking equipment, safety basics, and food groups. A good all-purpose book with service notes, nutrition counts per serving, and clear instructions. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents, which is a drawback in a book like this, especially since the nutrition data is in metric.

7.THE BARBECUE LOVER'S BIG BOOK OF BBQ SAUCES (Harvard Common Press, 2015, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-55832-845-7, $18.95 US paper covers) is by Cheryl and Bill Jamison, who have written many other BBQ books (at least 7), including Texas Home Cooking. They cover 225 sauces, rubs, marinades, mops, bastes, pastes, and salsas for smoke-cooking and grilling. There are, of course, detailed instructions on using a recipe for smoking or grilling. It's arranged by type of meat, from beef and bison through poultry, fish, lamb and venison, veggies, and fruit. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is a table of metric equivalents.

8.BREW BETTER BEER (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 234 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-631-7, $23 US hard covers) is by Emma Christensen, a homebrewer and former beer reviewer, and now the recipe editor for www.thekitchn.com. It's a basic book, covering from grain to glass; she does a nice job. And the book should appeal to women brewers as well, simply because there are so few other beer books authored by women. At the moment I cannot think of any. The subtitle here is "learn (and break) the rules for making IPAs, sours, Pilsners, stouts and more". Her primer opens with getting to know your ingredients (malts, water, hops, yeast) and your equipment (brewing, fermenting, bottling), followed by brewing your first and easy batch. Then it is on to types: pale ales, Indian pale ales (IPA), brown ales, porters and stouts, British ales, Belgian ales, Scottish and Irish red ales, wheat beers, rye ales, saisons and gluten-free beers, and ending with lagers (Pilsner, Octoberfest, and San Francisco Steam Beer. As in the better baking recipes, preps here are scaled – in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, with equivalents converted on the end pages. There are lots of choices in this book, with subtle additions or subtractions of ingredients to extend the database of recipes.

Audience and level of use: beginner brewers and others.

Some interesting or unusual facts:

The downside to this book: some beers have special ingredients that you may not want much of. For example, the Campari IPA is good as a bottle or two for that herbal complexity with beer, but a whole batch of five gallons? Only for the steely. Best to just add a shot of Campari to an IPA.

The downside to this book: ingredient listings are in bronze colour and do not stand out too well on the printed page.

The upside to this book: good photos.

Quality/Price Rating: 86.

10.OKTOBERFEST COOKBOOK (DK, 2015, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-3939-0, $20 US hard covers) is by Julia Skowronek, living in Munich and has worked the Hofbrau tent for the past two decades. These are typical dishes served at the Oktoberfest, along with material on dress and beer tent culture, history, Munich beer, other attractions in Munich, etiquette, and a phrase guide to beer-tent Bavarian. Arrangement of the preps is by course: snacks, soups, entrees, veggies, sides, and sweets. There is exceedingly good charm in this book. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

Audience and level of use: German beer and food lovers; those interested in Oktoberfest.

The downside to this book: everything is "heavy", but then that's their nature.

The upside to this book: lots of Oktoberfest pictures.

Quality/Price Rating: 88.

11.MY BUSY KITCHEN (Hodder & Stoughton, 2015, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-444-79920, $38.99 CAN hard covers) is by Alex Hollywood. It reflects her food background influences of Norway, Scotland, France and Spain. These are uncomplicated family recipes with foreign tinges and fringes from her past (the book's subtitle is "a lifetime of family recipes"). She delves into pantries (with country flavour themes) and larders, freezers, and basic sauces and stocks. She's arrange her book by course: breakfast, salads, lunches, veggies, mid-week meals, suppers, and entertaining. Plus the open-ended desserts, applicable anytime including tea. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.

Audience and level of use: beginners, those looking to refresh their memories

Both books came out about the same time, same length, 75 preps in the Aikman book and 70 in the Snyder. They are also both up against last year's PUCKER from Whitecap Books, which only covered the more sour citrus families (no pomelos or oranges). Aikman is arranged by type (lemon, lime, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, and the rest (citron, yuzu, kumquats). Snyder is by food (cookies, bars, pastries, tars, pies, cakes, frozen desserts, muffins, etc.) with a small chapter on savouries. Aikman's preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is a table of metric equivalents. Snyder is avoirdupois with no tables of equivalents. Aikman has 16 lime recipes, while Snyder does just 2. But many can be interchangeable if you wish to explore. I do not think you need both books; just one will do.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

3.THE SPROUTED KITCHEN BOWL AND SPOON (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 226 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-655-3, $25 US hard covers) is by Sara Forte who got a Beard nomination for her book The Sprouted Kitchen. Here she concentrates on using the bowl with a spoon to create and eat singles dish loaded with proteins, greens, veggies, and whole grains. It is perfect for sitting around and watching TV or just lying on a couch: and there may even be leftovers for the next day's lunch. It is a good collection, arranged by time of day or size of bowl. Morning Bowls are followed by Side Bowls, Big Bowls, and Sweet Bowls, with a chapter on dressings and sauces. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents on the inside back cover.

Audience and level of use: millennials and others who want a quick but nourishing meal.

4.CAKE MY DAY! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, 304 pages, ISBN 978-0-54426-369-7, $18.99 US soft covers) is by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. Both are experienced cookbook authors with followings, and creators of the serious of cupcake books <www.hellocupcakebook.com> Here they have expanded to bigger things, but you would of course also consider the cake a larger cupcake. With more room for decorating. Nice good ideas for kids and parties, they are just having fun. Contents range from round cake, to rectangles, loaves, bowl cakes, measuring-cup cakes, and decorating store-bought pound cakes. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

5.THE GREAT ROTISSERIE CHICKEN COOKBOOK (Appetite by Random House, 2015, 202 pages, ISBN 978-0-449-01640-4, $24.95 CAN paper covers) is by Eric Akis, a Victoria-based food writer who had worked in the hospitality industry as a trained chef for 15 years before starting a journalism career. This is his eighth book. Given that you can buy rotisserie chicken in every supermarket, large convenience store (plus Costo, etc.) and butcher, it was just a matter of time before the millennials would have discovered it and used it in many meals – since the chicken is already prepared. If you want to cook it yourself, Akis gives a few recipes. Otherwise, just buy the chicken and use it in a variety of settings. There are over 100 recipes for the pre-cooked bird, plus others for doing it yourself. If it is just one or two of you, then there will be leftovers (certainly there will be enough for a stock for soup, or bone soup). The meals can be made within an hour or less. He's got preps using the bird and preps (salads, sides) to accompany the bird. International cuisines are the themes. He's also got 10 preps on spicing up your home-cooked birds: BBQ, Spanish, Moroccan, jerk, Piri-Piri, Chinese, Tandoori, Thai curry, et al. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.

The downside to this book: while he preaches food safety, rotisserie birds are notorious for their over-salting (not pointed out).

The upside to this book: a good idea, useful ideas.

Quality/Price Rating: 85.

6.FIKA; the art of the Swedish coffee break (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 162 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-586-0, $17.99 US hard covers) is by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall, both of Swedish extraction and both involved in the food writing and blogging business. About half of the book concerns a history of Swedish coffee and the whole break thing, including a modern day break and eating outdoors. A lot of it is life stories and memoirs. Preparations have their ingredients listed in metric plus avoirdupois weights and volumes measurements.

7.SESAME & SPICE (Headline, 2015, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-4722-2360-9, $36.99 CAN hard covers) is by Anne Shooter, food writer for the Daily Mail in England. It is a baking book, concentrating on the flavours of the Middle East, principally Jewish (her heritage). Thus one can expect apples, honey, almonds, figs, pomegranates, cinnamon, orange zest, sesame, lemons and vanilla aromas to be incorporated into flatbreads, cakes, and cookies. And here they are. It is a nice collection of recipes, with a chapter on baking for Passover (with gluten-free recipes). She's even got a small collection of savoury bakes too. Preparations have their ingredients listed in mainly metric measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.

8.THE TOMATO BASKET (Ryland Peters & Small, 2015, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-84975-598-6, $21.95 US hard covers) is by Jenny Linford, a London food writer and author of 15 books. Here she gives us 75 or so preps spread over chapters dealing with small bites, soups and salads, flesh, veggies, ice and pasta, breads, sauces and preserves. Along the way she discusses varieties, growers, festivals, and heritage tomatoes. All with the usual sharp photography from RP & S. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.

9.TWENTY DINNERS (Clarkson Potter, 2015, 272 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-34528-6, $37.50 US hard covers) is by Ithai Schori and Chris Taylor, partially trained in restaurants but great home cooks. This is entertaining at its finest, assisted by Rachel Holtzman as the focusing food writer. The arrangement is by season, beginning with fall and moving through to summer. At the end, there is ancillary material on pantries, techniques, equipment, shopping advice, and other lists. There are 20 dinners here for one to duplicate, five to a season, for every other week or so. Desserts are downplayed, and service is both family style and plated for the proper expression of flavours and of eating food together. Given that many food books go all out for gastroporn, there are way too many gratuitous non-food photos (an empty chair? A sunset? Logs?, Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

Audience and level of use: millennials looking for some ideas on easy food preps.

Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: from dinner 7 – duck confit and tagliatelle; radicchio salad with pears, blue cheese and bacon. With a smoked Earl Gray hot toddy as pre-prandial and pinot noir with the meal.

The downside to this book: the dinners really work well if you make the entire meal with no substitutions.

The upside to this book: wines are suggested by varietal name

Quality/Price Rating: 86.

10.SIMPLY ANCIENT GRAINS (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 262 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-588-4, $27.50 US hard covers) is by Maria Speck, cookbook writer and multiple-award winner for her book "Ancient Grains for Modern Meals". Here, with some log rolling from Deborah Madison and The Joy of Cooking authors, she advances further into the realm of grains. There is the primer to some two dozen of these (all with an indication to gluten), including freekeh and some farros. This is followed by chapters on breakfast and brunch, salads and sides, soups and stews, pasta, mains, and sweets. At the end there is in ingredients section plus sources. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents.

Audience and level of use: health conscious, those looking for new foods.

11.YOGURT (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-712-5, $19.99 US hard covers) is by Janet Fletcher, author or co-author of more than two dozen cookbooks. She writes a lot on cheese, and teaches cheese-appreciation courses. So yogurt fits right in. These are sweet and savoury recipes for every meal and snacks, arranged by course from apps to desserts. The opening primer on making yogurt at home is valuable, although of course you can buy your own. But with homemade yogurt you get to control the milk source (organic?) and its freshness. We make our own organic cow's milk yogurt but buy organic sheep milk yogurt for its richness. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

The downside to this book: I'd like more discussion on sheep milk yogurt, and yogo cheese.

The upside to this book: she's got three nice recipes for yogurt (yogo) cheese.

Quality/Price Rating: 89.

12.MEAT MAN (Mosaic Press, 2015; distr. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 154 pages, ISBN 978-1-77161-127-5, $27.95 CAN paper covers) is by Ronald Chapchuck, one of the major meat suppliers (principally beef) to Toronto's restaurants, delis, pubs, hotels, and steakhouses for over 40 years. He's worked at J.J. Derma Meats in Kensington Market, then Honeyman's Beef and then Sysco Fine Meat, through 2013. He still works at a meat purveyor in Oakville, but wrote this memoir in his spare time. The coverage is nominally 1950 – 2000. It is loosely arranged by type, beginning with his earliest moments in Chinatown and then progressing through delis, butcher shops, hotels, restaurants, et al. For each place he has some history and some stories to tell. Many, of course, are no longer with us (a quarter-century of life seems to be the limit): Bassel's, Bistro 990, Bombay Bicycle Club, Napoleon's, Brown Derby, Corner House, Danish Food Centre, Diana Sweets, Eaton's, Mermaid, Indian Rice Factory, Hop and Grape, Walker House (Franz Joseph, Rathskeller), and more. But some are still here: Fran's, La Bodega, Tom Jones Steak House, Black Angus Steak House, Shopsy's. He's got some nifty black and white photos along with reproductions of some menus and match boxes, and the like. But I am still waiting for the swizzle stick collection, like the one from Chicken Palace of the 1950s. A good collection of vignettes and anecdotes, with a valuable index to the places and people.

...are both by Justine Pattison, a UK diet recipe writer who specializes in preparing recipes for TV chefs and presenters, as well as writing food columns for British publications. She's got four other books in this series, dealing with comfort food, past and rice, one pots, and baking). Her 123 Plan is an easy approach to meals: each prep has been counted for calories and some nutritional data. The emphasis is to reduce weight by reducing calories, and she also has some ideas and tips on a global scale. "Takeway favourites" is arranged by cuisine: Indian, Chinese, SE Asian, Japanese, Mediterranean, and US. For the latter she's got lower fat burgers, fish burgers, chicken strips, and smoky pulled pork. For the Mediterranean, there's red pepper hummus, pita crisps, Moroccan marinated olives, pollo pasta with pesto. "Quick and easy" is arranged by major ingredient (breakfast, chicken, pork, lamb, fish, meat-free, sweets) with avocado and cucumber soup, tom yum soup, poppadum poppers, and smoked trout pate. Preparations have their ingredients listed in metric measurements, but there are tables of equivalents.

Audience and level of use: beginners, the fat conscious.

Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: see above

The downside to these books: more preps are needed

The upside to these books: good layout, calories listed in large type of a different colour.

Quality/Price Rating: 88.

15.THE ELIMINATION DIET (Grand Central Life & Style; dist. Hachette, 2015, 331 pages, ISBN 978-1-4555-8188-7, $27 US hard covers) is by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre. She's a chef-blogger-nutritionist <nourishingmeals.com> while he is a nutrition academic researcher. Together they have also authored The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook (2008, 2014) and the website, concentrating on "whole food" recipes, including gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and egg-free dishes. Almost something for everyone. Their current book helps you to discover the foods that are making you "sick and tired", and what you can do about it through whole life nutrition. It is thorough and comprehensive, beginning with a primer on diet sensitivities, the need for whole foods, the larder, the equipment, the cooking techniques. The 100 recipes begin on page 190, and are arranged by course, from soups to desserts, beginning with smoothies, bacteria-cultured foods, whole grains, dips and sauces, snacks and beverages. All with large type, easy to use instructions, and tips/tricks. There is also a web resources listing and a listing of printed references; there's more at www.wholelifenutrition.net (recipes, courses, newsletters, blogs). For all of this to work, you must detoxify (2 days of smoothie and juices), eliminate potentially inflammatory foods over two weeks, and then reintroduce the eliminated foods over two months to see what works and what doesn't work. Recipes have been sub-categorized into detox (phase 1), elimination (phase 2), and reintroduction (phase 3). Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

Audience and level of use: those seeking a cure that might actually work.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

By DEAN TUDOR, Gothic Epicures Writing deantudor@deantudor.com. Creator of Canada's award-winning wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.com. My Internet compendium "Wines, Beers and Spirits of the Net", a guide to thousands of news items and RSS feeds, plus references to wines, beers and spirits, has been at www.deantudor.com since 1994. My LCBO tastings are based on MVC (Modal Varietal Character); ratings are QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio). Prices are LCBO retail. Only my top rated wines are here.

NOTE: The LCBO does NOT put out all of the wines of the release for wine writers or product consultants. Corked wines are not normally available for a re-tasting. It is getting more difficult to endorse wines under $20 for the simple reason that the LCBO does not release many of them into the Vintages program, ones that can be deemed to be worthy of your consideration. So I will now just ADD some "under $25" suggestions, along with point values.

====?>>> ** BEST WINE VALUE OF THE RELEASE *UNDER* $20

Alceno Premium 50 Barricas Syrah 2012 Jumilla, +398933, $13.95: a selection of 50 barrels from Jumilla wine stock, and tastes like a breezy herby syrah from the deep south of France, with plenty of black fruit and that MVC syrah flavour in spades. 14.5% ABV. QPR: 92.

6.Vila Real Old Vines in Young Hands White 2013 Portugal, +424374, $12.95: the winery claims that this wine is from the Douro but putting that word on the label would make the wine more expensive. Really? How so? Where more expensive? LCBO is an export market, so who cares?...Nevertheless, the wine is decent entry level at 12.5% ABV with a longer fruity finish than expected, proving its "old vine" provenance. One wit said that this was a cougar wine great for sipping at parties. There is a Tinto as well, but not in Ontario yet. QPR: 88.

4.Abad Dom Bueno Mencia 2008 Bierzo, +291989, $15.95: from older vines, somewhat like a wine from Cahors with its still impenetrable stylings. Good value for its age, showing age complexity, 13.5% ABV. QPR: 90.

6.Domaine Lafage Tessellae Cotes du Roussillon Old Vines Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre 2013, +343517, $17: the label includes "grenache gris" in the listing of grapes used, I assume that would be part of the 40% grenache total content. Good tasting but dense, value priced. From old vines, 14.5% ABV. QPR: 88.

7.Sagelands Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Columbia Valley, +420810, $18.95: PNW cabbies continue to best other West Coast cabbies at this price level. Exceedingly tasty, with cabernet sauvignon as it should be (or once was?). Some muted berries and chocolate give it a Euro feel, but perhaps it may come around better at Christmas. 13.3% ABV. QPR: 89.

Restaurants should consider offering these FINE VALUE wines at a $10 markup over retail; the wines are READY to enjoy right NOW. Consumers should buy these wines to bring to restaurants with corkage programs.

1.THE TEA BOOK (DK, 2015, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-3606-1, $22 US hard covers) is by Linda Gaylard, a Canadian certified tea sommelier. She does a lot of international writing and lecturing as well as her blog www.theteastylist.com. She explores 16 of the most important tea-growing regions after a primer section on definitions, infusions, and tisanes. Next she has about 100 recipes, divided by type of tea: green, iced, white, oolong, kombucha, black masala – 11 in all. She concludes with specific features on tea cultures around the world. It is a nice all-purpose tea book, great for new tea lovers, and perfect (and affordable) for students. Well-illustrated too. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they've been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I'll try to point this out. The usual shtick is "favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks". There is also PR copy on "demystifying ethnic ingredients". PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase "mouth-watering recipes" as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don't seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don't ignore them altogether. Here's a rundown on the latest crop of such books –

15.THE OCEAN WISE COOKBOOK 2; more seafood recipes that are good for the planet (Whitecap, 2015, 376 pages, ISBN 978-1-77050-238-3, $34.95 CAN paper covers) is a collection of preps from chefs and restaurants from across Canada, although most of them are from the West Coast (mainly Vancouver). It's an accessible guide to sustainable seafood and freshwater fish, which the index indicates ranges from ahi tune to yellowfin tuna. This is the sequel to the original, published in 2010. Jane Mundy, a professional cook and writer, did the editorial work. Ocean Wise is a nationwide conservation program created by the Vancouver Aquarium to educate restaurants and consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood: it has over 200 members. 170 recipes in this edition feature about 45 types of seafood – and each prep is sourced as to chef. Preparations

have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. After a discussion on sustainability, farmed versus wild, fresh versus frozen, and storage for fish, the preps are listed in cooking technique order and then by type of fish, with

chapters on "one-pots" and canned foods. Try finnan haddie, sablefish with roasted sunchokes and pancetta, or baked harissa steelhead with quinoa. A very worthwhile book in support of a great cause. Quality/price rating: 90.

16.COOK'S COUNTRY EATS LOCAL (America's Test Kitchen, 2015, 310 pages, ISBN 978-1-936493-99-9, $26.95 US paper covers) is from the PBS show. It is one of a series stressing family cooking (blue ribbon, grandmothers, potluck, grilling), and this time the show gives us 150 regional recipes "you should be making no matter where you live". So these are local recipes gone national: the New Orleans muffulettas, jo jo potatoes from the Pacifi Northwest, St. Louis gooey butter cake, porketta from Minnesaota, New England bar pizza, West Virginia pepperoni rolls, Carolina sweet potato sonker, and Iowa skinnies of crispy pork cutlets. It is all part of Christopher Kimball's scheme to find the perfect iconic recipe by testing and re-testing it – until it seems right. The final recipe for each dish is the one that is published in this book. The book's arranged by four regions, and each prep comes with a headnote on why this particular recipe works. There are also dining destinations on where to eat the food, should you be traveling. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are four pages of equivalents. This is a winning formula. Quality/price rating: 90.

17.LET THERE BE MEAT (Orion, 2015, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-4091-5635-2, $37.99 CAN hard covers) is by James Douglas and Scott Munro, owners of Red's True Barbecue in the UK. They know US BBQ culture since they spent years of travel and study in the American Deep South. The book is extremely useful in Canada since it is a true outsider's view of American smokehouse barbecue. 120 preps cover low and slow cooking, from rubs and crusts through meats, sides, sauces, pickles, sweet stuff and drinks. Chapter four covers feasts such as doing a cabrito asado (whole goat kid, or substitution of lamb), weaner pig, and seafood boil. A good smart-looking book, well-photographed. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 87.

18.DOS CAMINOS TACOS (The Countryman Press, 2014, 280 pages, ISBN 978-1-58157-234-6, $24.95US hard covers) is by Ivy Stark, a NYC top chef who has run many Mexican styled restaurants, but is now executive chef at Dos Caminos. Joanna Pruess, who also worked with Stark on her first book Dos Caminos Mexican Street Food, is the focusing food writer. Here Stark extends the taco section from her previous book on street food. There are 100 preps, opening with vegetarian, and moving through fish and seafood, then poultry, followed by red meats. She's got some sides, saldsa, condiments, desserts, and beverages. Try the sweet potato and colorado bean kash tacos, or the wild mushroom and napales filled tacos, or perhaps the tuna tacos with lime aioli and honeydew jicama slaw. Fried green tomatillo tacos with green olives and chipotle remoulade is inventive. Suggested tortillas are corn or flour, warm or cold, soft or hard. A glossary, including the types of chilies, concludes the book. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 87.

19.CRUMB; the baking book (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 336 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-836-6, $27.50 US hard covers) is by Ruby Tandoh, Great British BakeOff finalist and now a Guardian columnist. It is a celebration of baking, a basic primer to cakes, breads, sweet dough, cookies and crackers, pies and tarts, pastries and "decadent desserts". There is alittle bit of everything, and it is all oriented to family dining and family cooking. It was originally published in the UK in 2014, and has been Americanized in its terminalogies for the US market. But I am glad that baking measurements have been employed (both metric and avoirdupois) and that everything metric is scaled. The range includes chamomile vanilla cupcakes, rosemary pecan pie, and fennel seed and chile crackers. This shows a good emphasis on the sweet and savoury elements of a single dish. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 87.

20.TIPSY TREATS (Skyhorse Publishing, 2015, 118 pages, ISBN 978-1-63220-692-3, $19.99 US hard covers) is by Autumn Skoczen, owner of Auts Tipse Treats which opened in 2011. In 2014 she pioneered new liquor laws in Ohio regulating the use of liquor in confections, and hers was the first company to receive a license. These preps here are alcohol-infused cupcakes, marshmallows (drunken s'mores?), and martini gels. She's got the usual spiked jams, margarita cupcakes, and rum-raisin cupcakes. But there are also Irish car bomb cupcakes with whiskey ganache frosting. The book was a pleasant surprise in its limitations of alcohol-infusions. Well done. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 85.

21.A LIME AND A SHAKER; discovering Mexican-inspired cocktails (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-544-30232-7, $18.99 US hard covers) is by the Tippling Brothers (Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay), bar owners and consultants in NYC. It is basically a tequill cocktail book, but it does have some seven alcohol-free frescas. There's a total of 72 preps, including some spiced concoctions and syrups. There is a primer on the culture of tequila, including history and types. And even some food. One recipe uses Scotch in the scotch foam. But the book is over-illustrated. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 85.

22.TOMATOMANIA! (St. Martin's Griffin, 2015, 210 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-05728-0, $24.99 US soft covers) is by Scott Daigre, owner and producer of Tomatomania, the world's largest tomato seedling sale, and Jenn Garbee, an LA food journalist and co-author of several cookbooks. It's a basic tomato cookbook, but it begins with a real gardening approach to growing tomatoes. You'll need lots of sunshine, so that lets out most of Canada. But it avoids all the Kraft Heinz teardowns. There are twenty recipes and numerous kitchen tips to get the most out of the harvest. There's tomato-vanilla bean marmalade, tomato upside-down cornmeal cake, and stone fruit and tomato gazpacho. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 86.

23.GUILT-FREE BAKING (Nourish Books, 2015, 176 pages, ISBN 978-1-84899206-1, $20.95 CAN hard covers) is by Gee Charman, a caterer who also cooked at Kensington Palace, and a food stylist for UK TV. These are low-calorie and low-fat sweet treats: muffins and cupcakes, cookies, sheet cakes, bars, brownies, tarts and pies, meringues and large cakes. The Full Monty of Brit sweets. A lot of it is fruit-based rather than sugar based. Pantries have been reduced to limit any impacts, so there is a nice choice of flours, dried fruits and nuts, different healthy sweeteners, and a variety of useful spices. The emphasis is, of course, on guilt free, so there is Guilt-Free Vanilla Custard Sauce and Guilt-Free Vanilla Ice Cream. Typical are chocolate cupcakes with avocado frosting, sour cherry and almond cantuccini, and blackberry and coconut sheet cake. Yummy photographs too. There's no scaling, so preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements; there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 87.

24.GUITTARD CHOCOLATE COOKBOOK (Chronicle Books, 2015, 177 pages, ISBN 978-1-4521-3533-5, $25 US paper covers) is by Amy Guittard, a fifth-generation San Franciscan who oversees marketing for her family company, founded in 1868. These are preps from a premium bean-to-bar chocolate company. The early part of the book describes the company and gives an account of the day-to-day processes. There is also a description of the chocolates produced, which are used in the prep process in this book. So if you do not have that particular Guittard bar or nibs, you might have to search around for a substitute via the description, to find something comparable. It is arranged by food type, cookies through brownies and bars, cakes, cupcakes, tarts, pies, fudge, puddings, to toppings.

Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, with some scaling. Quality/price rating: 87.